Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-01-14
FORTY ACRES ENOUGH.
What Can be Done by Puget Sound
Farmer on Forty Acres of the Bcsl
Quality of Bottom Land.
Tacoma News.l

Farmer on Forty Acres of The Bc>l
Quality of Bottom Land.
Tacoma News.l
The statement has frequently been
valley land could make better living
off from 40 acres than Kansas or
Nebraska farmer can on Il quarter sec
ton. This admits of easy dcmonstra-
ton. Forty acres of trst-class valley
land, near to market and cleared, for
the purpose of illustration. will be csti-
mated to bc worth one hundred dulla RS
per acre, which would make the invest
mcnt in land alone four thousand
dollars. Add to this for buildings,
farm utensils and working capital,
two thousand dollars, making the total
investment six thousand acres Ten
acres in hops will yield at least .wo
thousand pounds to the acre, the cost
of production Of which will he about
seven cents per pound. With the av-
cragc market price of fifteen cents per
| pound, the ten acres would Weld net
profit above all expenses Of sixteen
hundred dollars. Many fields this
past year yielded from three thousand
to three thousand five hundred pounds
| per acre, and sold from twenty-five to
thirty-four cents per pound. Fifteen
acres in hay will yield at least four
tons per acre, which will net at thc
present price of sixteen to eighteen
dollars Il ton, at least twelve dollars
per ton, or seven hundred and twenty
dollars for the crop. Five acres i'll po-
tatoes will Weld eighteen hundred
bushels, which can be marketed 10 net
forty cents per bushcl or seven hun
drcd and twenty dollars for the crop
Six acres i'll root crops, such as ruth
bagas and sugar bects for feed, will
| yield ut least ten ions per acre, which
at half Il cent per pound net, would
he worth six hundred dollars. This
would leave four acres for houyc sur
roundings and stable room, and the
net value of the product raised on the
thirty-six acres cultivated would be
| three thousand six hundred and forty
dollars, or over onc-half of the cStimat-
ed value Of the farm. In making this
estimate the figures quoted are less than
the average capacity Of our best valley
| lands The writer of this article has
seen an acre of ground in the White
river valley that has produced seven
hundred bushels OF potatoes. In the
Stuck valley he has twenty-five acres
of meadow which for seventeen years
has produced one hundred tons of hay,
besides furnishing pasture for stock
from September until April. lie can
point to several fields that have yielded
from twenty to thirty tons of root
crops year after year without fail.
The valuation quoted above for the
forty acres is applicable to the best
quality of valley lands near to town
Lands equally rs good further from
market can be obtained for one-half
of that figure.
The Puget Sound farmer lives in an
equable climate, where the annual
rainfall is no greater than in the Mis-
sissippi valley and is equally dis;ribut-
ed throughout the year. He is an
noyed by no drouths, unreasonable
frosts nor destructive insect pests.
His crop is sure if he till his land in
telligently, and located on the sea-
board, with every facility for shipping
his product, he has the world for a
market.